Illegal Liaisons

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Book: Illegal Liaisons by Grazyna Plebanek Read Free Book Online
Authors: Grazyna Plebanek
Tags: General Fiction
But they don’t have the time to listen. They say I should write it all down. I’ve even started doing so but it’s an uphill struggle. I used to be able to write quite well – got top marks at school – but then, working for so many years as an architect, my pen got rusty.”
    “You want to get going as a writer?” prompted Jonathan.
    “Refresh my skill.” He noticed that her French was precise, avoided vulgar influences. “Somehow I’ve got to put across what happened. There are so many stories.”
    She laughed, revealing her even teeth. Geert blinked; Jean-Pierre adjusted himself on his chair. Jonathan stopped himself from laughing at the sight of the males instinctively reacting to Ariane’s sexy smile.
    At this relaxed moment, Geert’s confession seemed out of place.
    “I have only one story.”
    “And I don’t have any,” Kitty interrupted. She had a rattling accent; Jonathan automatically scanned England in his head, searching for the girl’s roots. “Fiction puts me off.”
    “Why?”
    “I used to be a journalist,” sighed Kitty. “I worked in a press agency first, then on a daily paper. There’s a terrible emphasis on facts there.”
    “And truth.” Jean-Pierre draped himself over his chair in a Byronic pose.
    “Not necessarily.” Kitty frowned.
    “You’ve had enough of facts?” Jonathan broke in.
    “I want to slow down. I adore Virginia Woolf. I can read her for hours.
The Waves
or
Mrs Dalloway
, it’s all the same. In it, a day seems like an eternity.”
    “And eternity seems like a day,” finished Nora, the oldest of the participants.
    “Yes.” Kitty studied Nora carefully and repeated, “Yes.”
    Jonathan looked at those gathered. There was a silence between them – one that was not embarrassing, since it reflected common thought. When Jean-Pierre started to wriggle restlessly in his chair, Jonathan pointed to the bowl.
    “Help yourselves to the apples. They’re good for concentration.”
    They ate, exchanging remarks that grew less and less formal, got to know each other. There was laughter first on one side of the table, then on the other; the anxious Geert looked at Ariane with increasing confidence, Jean-Pierre gesticulated in Kitty’s direction. A moment later, he looked around for a trash can. Not seeing one, he glanced enquiringly at Jonathan.
    “Exactly,” said Jonathan. “The apple cores.”
    They looked at him curiously.
    “Take a good look at their shape.”
    Ariane swept her eyes over the others, joined in embarrassment; Geert bestowed on her a saddened gaze. Jonathan laughed.
    “You must think I’m the crazy Miss Trelawney, if you’ve read
Harry Potter
. You’re right, a core is a little like tea leaves, but see for yourselves the shapes you’ve created.”
    Jean-Pierre rested his back against his chair and was the first to stretch out his hand with the apple core. A moment later it was Kitty with the expression, “What the hell!” Before a minute was up, everyone was examining what remained of their apples, exchanging comments and giggling nervously. Jonathan leaned over the cores with childish curiosity.
    “One side bitten right down, the other not touched, beautiful, Geert. And here? The whole apple bitten round but you can’t see the seeds. While here, we have a fine piece of work, gnawed right through, pedantically …” He went on while they laughed and exchanged remarks.
    Finally, he pulled himself up straight and stood behind the table.
    “That was simply a quick hands-on lesson, intended to enable us to see how we get to the center.”
    “I didn’t get there. I only ate the skin!” Jean-Pierre raised his hand.
    “And that’s the next question: what, for each of us, constitutes the center?”
    An hour later, Jonathan was in the park, kissing Andrea’s lips. Their bench was tucked away; the last rays of sun slid down the trunks of the chestnut trees. He took her face in his hands; they sat now, forehead against forehead, the

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